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Los Angeles Lakers Getting a Statue of Miami Heat Team President Pat Riley

Stephen Douglas

Pat Riley when he was coach of the Lakers in 1988.
Pat Riley when he was coach of the Lakers in 1988. / MPS-Imagn Images
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The Los Angeles Lakers have commissioned a statue of former player and coach Pat Riley, the team announced Monday. The new statue will be placed in Star Plaza outside the Crypto.com Arena.

Riley, the current team president of the Miami Heat, played for the Los Angeles Lakers from 1970 to 1975 and then coached the team from 1981 to 1990, helping the franchise win six championships in the process.

After spending a season working for NBC, Riley came out of retirement to coach the New York Knicks until 1995 when he became president and head coach of the Miami Heat. Riley has been exclusively associated with the Heat for a nearly three decades at this point, but maybe the Lakers finally got around to watching Winning Time.

The timing of the announcement is perfect with Riley just attending the Dwyane Wade statue unveiling. Riley drafted Wade in Miami and then traded for a bunch of players to the Lakers for Shaquille O'Neal.

Magic Johnson, Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O'Neal, Elgin Baylor and Kobe Byrant all currently have statues outside the Lakers' arena. At this point there won't be room for a LeBron James statue.

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Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a Senior Writer on the Breaking & Trending News Team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in journalism and media since 2008, and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Stephen spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and has previously written for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

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